Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/294

 2 54 Reviews.

From the practical point of view the book should be of great service, and should be read by all those ^-hose work brings them into contact with backward races. The author brings out clearly and in the most unbiassed manner the evil effects of past ignorance, especially on the part of the missionaries, and the picture of the effects of their ill-devised measures is one which should be carefully studied by the leaders of the missionary movement. Mr. Thomson, himself an official, is also able to point out several instances in which mistakes might have been avoided by a more accurate knowledge of native character and institutions on the part of the Govern- ment.

To the anthropologist and folklorist the great merits of the book must be quahfied by an acknowledgment of a fundamental weakness which the book shares with most accounts of backward races, in that it gives a false notion of the uniformity of Fijian culture. It seems to be a peculiarity of those who live in the midst of alien peoples to notice and record the facts which show uniformity, and to neglect the points which show difference. It is probably so much more interesting to themselves to notice and bring out the uniformity which is undoubtedly present among such people as the Fijians, and, further, it often happens that the uniformity is in things of the surface, while the points of difference may not be obvious and only be found by careful investigation. To the popular reader this demonstration of uniformity is of far greater interest than that of differences which may perhaps only leave him bewildered at the complexity of conditions where preconceived ideas have led him to expect simplicity. If, however, we are to progress in knowledge, this too exclusive interest in uniformity must come to an end, and the differences within the uniformity must be carefully sought out and recorded. A brief experience of a few weeks in only one of the Fijian islands was sufficient to convince the writer of this notice that behind the apparent uniformity of culture there are fundamental differences. One such point of difference has been long known, — viz., the limitation of the Nanga cult to one region of the island of Viti Levu, but we learn nothing from the accounts of Mr. Thomson and others